Surviving Mars
From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
This page is for the original 2018 version. For the remastered version due to be released in 2025, see Surviving Mars: Relaunched.
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| Developers | |
|---|---|
| Haemimont Games | |
| Post-release | Abstraction[1] |
| Publishers | |
| Paradox Interactive | |
| Engines | |
| Sol | |
| Release dates | |
| Windows | March 15, 2018 |
| macOS (OS X) | March 15, 2018 |
| Linux | March 15, 2018 |
| Reception | |
| Metacritic | 76 |
| OpenCritic | 77 |
| IGDB | 74 |
| Taxonomy | |
| Monetization | One-time game purchase |
| Modes | Singleplayer |
| Perspectives | Bird's-eye view, Scrolling, Free-roaming camera |
| Controls | Direct control, Point and select |
| Genres | Simulation, Strategy, Building |
| Vehicles | Space flight |
| Themes | Fantasy, Sci-fi |
| Series | Surviving Mars |
 |
|
| Surviving Mars | |
|---|---|
| Subseries of Surviving | |
| Surviving Mars | 2018 |
| Surviving Mars: Pioneer | 2025 |
| Surviving Mars: Relaunched | 2025 |
Surviving Mars is a singleplayer bird's-eye view, scrolling and free-roaming camera simulation, strategy and building game in the Surviving Mars series.
General information
- Surviving Mars - Paradox Interactive Forums
- GOG.com Community Discussions
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
| Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | |
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| GOG.com | |
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| Humble Store | |
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| Publisher website (unavailable) | |
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| Epic Games Store (unavailable) | |
DRM-free when launched directly from executable.[2] | |
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| Green Man Gaming (unavailable) | |
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| Microsoft Store (unavailable) | |
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| Steam (unavailable) | |
Steamworks API integration turns the Steam client into DRM. [3] | |
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| Mac App Store (unavailable) | |
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Version differences
- Surviving Mars: Digital Deluxe Edition includes: the Base Game and Deluxe Upgrade Pack.
- Surviving Mars: First Colony Edition includes: the Base Game, Space Race, Green Planet, Project Laika, Marsvision Song Contest, Deluxe Upgrade Pack and Colony Design Set.
- Surviving Mars: Season Pass includes: the Base Game, Space Race, Green Planet, Project Laika, Marsvision Song Contest and Colony Design Set.
Monetization
DLC and expansion packs
| Name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Space Race | Expansion | |
| Green Planet | Expansion | |
| Below and Beyond | Expansion | |
| Mysteries Resupply Pack | Content pack, free | |
| Project Laika | Content pack | |
| Marsvision Song Contest | Music pack | |
| Deluxe Upgrade Pack | Cosmetic pack | |
| Stellaris Dome Set | Cosmetic pack | |
| Colony Design Set | Cosmetic pack | |
Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
- Install the Startup Skip Logos mod.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
| System | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | %APPDATA%\Surviving Mars\ |
| Microsoft Store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\ParadoxInteractive.SurvivingMars_zfnrdv2de78ny\LocalCache\Roaming\Surviving Mars\ |
| macOS (OS X) | $HOME/Library/Application Support/Surviving Mars/ |
| Linux | $XDG_DATA_HOME/Surviving Mars/ |
- This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.
Save game data location
| System | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | %APPDATA%\Surviving Mars\Save\ |
| Microsoft Store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\ParadoxInteractive.SurvivingMars_zfnrdv2de78ny\LocalCache\Roaming\Surviving Mars\Save\ |
| macOS (OS X) | $HOME/Library/Application Support/Surviving Mars/Save/ |
| Linux | $XDG_DATA_HOME/Surviving Mars/Save/ |
- This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.
Save game cloud syncing
| System | Native | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Epic Games Launcher | ||
| GOG Galaxy | ||
| Steam Cloud | Cross-platform sync not available | |
| Xbox Cloud |
- Also available through Paradox Launcher
Video
Video settings.
Advanced video settings.
| Graphics feature | State | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Widescreen resolution | |||
| Multi-monitor | |||
| Ultra-widescreen | |||
| 4K Ultra HD | |||
| Field of view (FOV) | Has a FOV slider inside the Photo Mode settings | ||
| Windowed | |||
| Borderless fullscreen windowed | |||
| Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
| Anti-aliasing (AA) | FXAA, SMAA | ||
| Vertical sync (Vsync) | |||
| 60 FPS and 120+ FPS | Refresh forced to 60 Hz on Linux, forced 30 Hz during video playback[4][5] | ||
| High dynamic range display (HDR) | See the glossary page for potential alternatives. | ||
| Color blind mode | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Input
Gameplay options.
Control options.
| Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Remapping | ||
| Mouse sensitivity | Scroll speed only | |
| Mouse acceleration | ||
| Mouse input in menus | ||
| Keyboard and mouse prompts | ||
| Mouse Y-axis inversion | The cursor is unlocked during gameplay and cannot be inverted. Scrolling and zooming functions can be individually inverted. | |
| Controller | ||
| Controller support | ||
| Full controller support | Controller support may need to be enabled from the Controls menu. After this, the game offers full controller support. | |
| Controller remapping | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | |
| Controller sensitivity | ||
| Controller Y-axis inversion |
| Controller types |
|---|
| XInput-compatible controllers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Xbox button prompts | ||
| Impulse Trigger support |
| DirectInput-compatible controllers |
|---|
| PlayStation controllers |
|---|
| Nintendo controllers |
|---|
| Other controller(s) |
|---|
| Additional information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Controller hotplugging | ||
| Input prompt override | ||
| Haptic feedback | ||
| Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Gamepad controls (Xbox One controller).
Keyboard binding options (1/5).
Keyboard binding options (2/5).
Keyboard binding options (3/5).
Keyboard binding options (4/5).
Keyboard binding options (5/5).
Audio
Audio options.
| Audio feature | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Separate volume controls | ||
| Surround sound | ||
| Subtitles | ||
| Closed captions | ||
| Mute on focus lost | ||
| Royalty free audio |
Localizations
| Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Czech | Fan - #1 | |||
| French | ||||
| German | ||||
| Polish | ||||
| Brazilian Portuguese | ||||
| Russian | ||||
| Spanish |
Issues fixed
Audio stuttering
| Workaround |
|---|
|
Disabling the radio can greatly improve audio performance.[6] |
Issues unresolved
Resolution resetting to default between game sessions
- No known fix.
- Despite this issue, the resolution can still be set in the options menu as expected.[7]
Extreme performance drops near water (macOS)
- Mac OS X players have reported severe framerate drops around melted water (temperature >25%).[8]
| Reduce graphics settings in Options |
|---|
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Corrupted/Mirror Textures (macOS)
- Mac OS X textures are "mirrored" showing reflections of nearby mountains/etc. [9]
| No official fix |
|---|
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Multiple bugs with latest DLC (B&B)
- There's too many bugs to list here, but a few are: Uneven terrain from Flatten tool, Underground rubble floating on ceiling, deposits spawned outside of the underground map, surface colonists stuck underground causing crashes, and missing Planetary Anomaly breakthroughs.
| Fix Bugs mod. |
|---|
Other information
API
| Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Direct3D | 11 | Windows only. |
| OpenGL | 4.1, 4.5 | OS X and Linux only. |
| Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | |||
| macOS (OS X) | |||
| Linux |
System requirements
| Windows | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Recommended | |||
| Operating system (OS) | 7 | |||
| Processor (CPU) | 4th Generation Intel Core i3 | 5th Generation Intel Core i5 | ||
| System memory (RAM) | 4 GB | 8 GB | ||
| Storage drive (HDD/SSD) | 6 GB | |||
| Video card (GPU) | Intel HD 4600 Nvidia GeForce GT 620 AMD Radeon HD 6450 1 GB of VRAM | Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 4 GB of VRAM |
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- A 64-bit system is required.
| macOS (OS X) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Recommended | |||
| Operating system (OS) | 10.11 | |||
| Processor (CPU) | 4th Generation Intel Core i3 | Quad Core | ||
| System memory (RAM) | 4 GB | 8 GB | ||
| Storage drive (HDD/SSD) | 6 GB | |||
| Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce 600 Series ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series 1 GB of VRAM | Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4 GB of VRAM |
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- A 64-bit system is required.
| Linux | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Recommended | |||
| Operating system (OS) | Ubuntu 14 | |||
| Processor (CPU) | 4th Generation Intel Core i3 | Quad Core | ||
| System memory (RAM) | 4 GB | 8 GB | ||
| Storage drive (HDD/SSD) | 6 GB | |||
| Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce 600 Series AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series 1 GB of VRAM | Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4 GB of VRAM |
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- A 64-bit system is required.
References
- ↑ Surviving Mars has a new developer, new expansion coming this year - last accessed on 2021-03-13
- ↑ Verified by User:Baronsmoki on 2019-10-10
- ↑ Verified by User:Silverkeeper on 2025-12-22
- ↑ 30FPS? :: Surviving Mars General Discussions - last accessed on 2021-11-07
- ↑ Surviving Mars - FPS drops to 30 while displaying tooltips - last accessed on 2021-11-07
- ↑ Surviving Mars - Audio Stuttering | Paradox Interactive Forums - last accessed on 2025-09-12
- ↑ Resolution resets every time I start the game, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
- ↑ Surviving Mars - (Mac) Extreme FPS drop when a lake is in view | Paradox Interactive Forums - last accessed on 2025-09-12
- ↑ Surviving Mars - Clear/Reflective ground. texture problem - last accessed on 2025-09-12